Dulce de leche, that milk cooked with sugar until it takes on the colour of caramel, is the treat of all Latin America. Mariage Frères has paid it a nod with Milky Blue Caramelo, a lovely blue tea from Colombia that joins the house’s “Milky” collection, devoted to smooth, velvety milky notes.

The long-oxidised leaves are gently rolled by hand to release their indulgent caramel notes, which the house enriches with cocoa. An oolong this oxidised comes close to black tea in its roundness, while keeping the velvety texture of its family. The declared ingredients are tea, cocoa shell and flavouring; the blend may contain traces of tree nuts.

The liquor is golden and smooth. The caramel opens, warm and milky; the cocoa follows, darker, adding depth without darkening the cup; the roundness of the blue tea lengthens the finish, chocolatey and sweet. One thinks one detects a cloud of milk that was never added: these are the creamy flavours of dulce de leche that the house wished to evoke.

It is drunk through the day and at teatime, plain, with an alfajor, a shortbread, a crêpe or a square of dark chocolate that echoes the cocoa. A cloud of milk accentuates its creamy side, and iced it surprises, the caramel becoming a background note rather than a dominant scent.

Available loose leaf, weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, in a 100 g airtight black tea tin presented in its gift box, and in a box of 30 round cotton muslin tea sachets made in France (75 g). Use 2.5 g of leaves or one muslin per 200 ml of water at 95 °C, with five minutes’ steeping. Keep it closed, away from light and strong odours, to preserve the roundness of the caramel.